[lovelove2012]

My 14 year old teenager is glued and spends a couple of hours a day on ps3 or maybe more. On friday nights he spends all day after school till late night. Weekends is a lot as well.

What are the signs of addiction?

How much is enough a day and how much on weekends?

How many hours do your children play?

[galba]

None at all during the week. DH has set the timer to 0. At the weekends there is 2 hours between them per day (4 kids 5-12). They have to decide between them how they want to use it.

There is no way that I would be allowing any of them on it for hours on end - whether it was during the week or at the weekend. There is homework to be done, being a family, eating together etc.

Edited: checked with DH - it is 2 hours at the weekend.

This post has been edited by galba: 11/04/2012, 12:24 AM

[Honeymummy]

I dont have experience with your age kids but I would say that would be too much. I guess you could tell by trialling him without it or limit it for - say the weekend - and see his reaction. Does he have other interests?

Some people I know make their kids spend equal amounts of time doing playstation/tv as physical activity.

[FrogIsAFrogIsAFr...]

On friday nights he spends all day after school till late night. Weekends is a lot as well.

I would say that he is playing excessively and I'd be trying really hard to reel it all in and try to regain some control over the time spent gaming.

What are the signs of addiction?

The fact he plays for hours on end, every day is a pretty good indicator! Can he go a day without playing? Challenge him to see. If he is able to tear himself away for 2 or 3 days, then ask him how often he thought about playing/ felt like giving in/ what did he do instead and how did that feel? Was he moody or snappy? etc etc.

How much is enough a day and how much on weekends?

You have to ask yourself how it relates to your family. What other interests or pursuits are suffering? Have you noticed a drop in the time spent with friends (in real life), does he play sports or does his homework get done? Does his schoolwork suffer because he's tired? I'd be looking at all of that and negotiating some hours with him which are manageable for him, and you.

How many hours do your children play?
My son, at 11, will come home and try to get online straight away - we don't have an X-Box or Playstation because we'd spend half our lives telling him to get off it! He does love to play online games, and we limit them to about half an hour after school. After homework is done, dog walked etc. He is very active and I don't mind a little gaming.

I know 14 is different from 11, but I'd be a little concerned at the amount your son's playing.

[~**SYMONE**~]

1 hour of screen time a day, unless it's a movie on the weekend. If there is a movie ps3 time is forfeited. My children are 15, 14, 10 and 3



This post has been edited by ~**SYMONE**~: 11/04/2012, 07:57 AM

[TST]

None during weekdays. Few hours on school holiday weekends.

ETA. We own just about any kind of game consoles but the funny thing is we don't play them too often. Too busy doing outdoor stuff! We however use heaps like NDS itouch ipad etc whenever we travel.

[Jacoby28]

DD does not really have a set limit because she does not use it that often. When she wants to play she lasts maybe 30 mins then moves on to something else.

[mumto3princesses]

DD does not really have a set limit because she does not use it that often. When she wants to play she lasts maybe 30 mins then moves on to something else.

My girls are the same. They only have DS/DSi's and the DD1 has an ipod touch and they don't play games on the internet. When they do play them they tend to play for a little while and then do something else. I haven't timed them but it would be a maximum of 30mins but maybe even less.

They don't usually touch them at all during the school week. They will play them sometimes on the weekends or school holidays but not very often.

This post has been edited by mumto3princesses: 11/04/2012, 02:33 PM

[-al-]

DS7 - 30mins, DD15 - 1-1.5 hrs
This is only on weekends and school holidays, m-f they are too busy for tv or games

[Verdandih]

That sound like a lot of gaming time, do you know what kind of games he is playing?
With some role playing games people can get quite attached to them.
Also not to sound bad but have you checked his PS3 so its not connected to the internet & its that what he is doing instead of gaming.